Family: Husband, Carl; three children, Elizabeth, David and Diana; five grandchildren

Occupation: Volunteer

Activities: Square dancing

SPANISH FORT, Ala. -- A retired schoolteacher and executive secretary, Alice Hinger loves to stay busy and help people. So it is no wonder that she was recently recognized as Thomas Hospital’s Volunteer of the Quarter, an award bestowed to active members of the Thomas Hospital Auxiliary.

Hinger began volunteering at the Fairhope hospital in 1998 in the gift shop and in the Thomas Medical Center Surgery Waiting Area in Daphne. She was Thomas Hospital Auxiliary vice president, president-elect and president from October 2005 to September 2007, each for a two-year term.

"I went through all the auxiliary offices," Hinger said.

Hinger volunteers at the information desk, is the auxiliary’s fundraising chairwoman and fills in at the gift shop. She also represents Thomas Hospital as the District 4 chairwoman for the Alabama Council of Hospital Auxiliaries.

Hinger enjoys volunteering at the hospital because she said she is giving back to the community. "You feel like in some small way you are helping," she said. "It is really a fantastic way to meet people. The auxiliary members are like a large family.

The auxiliary includes more than 300 volunteers who work a minimum of four hours a week, Hinger said.

"They do invaluable work," she said. "You wouldn’t believe the work they do in the different departments. There aren’t many departments that you won’t find an auxiliary member helping in some way."

Hinger’s husband of 58 years, Carl, also is an auxiliary member.

Both Carl and Alice Hinger are retired and live in Spanish Fort. Before volunteering, Hinger was an executive secretary and later a schoolteacher for 23 years. The Ohio natives grew up, met and were married in Newark, Ohio.

Carl Hinger, an Ohio State University graduate with a degree in industrial management, worked in Ohio for Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation, also known as ALCOA. Alice Hinger was executive secretary to the plant manager, but retired when she was six months pregnant with their first child.

After Carl Hinger completed a college training program, he was transferred in 1964 to the company’s new plant in Bay Minette.

"At that time, I thought, ‘Alabama: That will be the end of the world. I will go for five years and that will be the end of it.’ But I’m still here," Alice Hinger said.

After a short stint at the Holiday Inn on the Causeway, the couple and their three children squeezed into a one-bedroom apartment until they could build their home.

"When I came here, this was just wild," she said.

"We have seen so much transpire since then. It has been amazing."

The Hingers fell in love with the area, and subsequently turned down several offers for job transfers out of town."

Alice Hinger became a teacher when their youngest child started second grade. While her husband earned a master’s degree from the University of South Alabama, she earned a bachelor’s degree from USA and finally a master’s degree in elementary education from Troy University.

When they aren’t volunteering, the Hingers enjoy square dancing.

"As a couple, we go square dancing maybe two or three times a week," she said. "We have been blessed; truly, truly blessed."